Lay Beliefs About Sexual Satisfaction And Attributions For Low Desire In Relationships

Sexuality plays a key role in shaping overall relationship happiness and stability, yet sexual desire tends to decline over time in relationships, which is a key reason for relationship dissolution. Theories of implicit (lay) beliefs about the maintenance of sexual satisfaction (i.e., sexual growth and sexual destiny beliefs) provide a valuable framework for understanding how people cope with sexual challenges, such as low desire, in a relationship. My dissertation extended theories of lay sexual beliefs by exploring associations with sexual and relationship well-being among people responding to both hypothetical and lived experiences of clinical low desire. I also tested novel mechanisms for these effects—the attributions that people make for the cause of their low desire. In Study 1, a study of individuals in relationships, sexual beliefs were associated with well-being, which was, in part, accounted for by the attributions people assigned to hypothetical low desire and arousal. In Study 2, sexual beliefs were differentially associated with relationship and sexual well-being in couples coping with clinically low desire. I found similar results in Study 3, a daily diary study of couples coping with clinically low desire, which were again, partially explained by daily attributions. Lastly, in Study 4, an experimental study, people oriented toward sexual growth (versus destiny) reported higher control attributions, which in turn was associated with people finding the situation less challenging. My dissertation demonstrated the critical and nuanced role of attributions in understanding how sexual beliefs are associated with relationship and sexual well-being in response to low desire.